


Finding out

by Redzik



Series: New's Year resolution 2019 [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Empathy, Hurt/Comfort, Not Really Character Death, Pre-Slash, but better put it in warnings anyway, jaydick_flashfic: superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 00:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18063530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redzik/pseuds/Redzik
Summary: Number 0“Jason!” Nightwing cried desperately, catching Red Hood as he collapsed in a heap where he was standing.





	Finding out

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I managed to find a fic older than the ones I had on my computer, which makes it my really first one fic from Batman I have written.

“Jason!” Nightwing cried desperately, catching Red Hood as he collapsed in a heap where he was standing.

“Sorry,” Jason slurred regretfully. “Gonna hurt.”

“Shh, don’t talk,” Nightwing scolded lightly, frantically trying to stop the bleeding, but there were just too many wounds for it to be of any effect. Blood was already creating a large puddle on the roof and seeped into his suit. “Jay,” Dick strangled out when he realized he couldn’t do anything for his brother. He gathered Jason into his arms, not above making him live just through the sheer will alone.

“It’s okay,” Red Hood soothed, lifting one hand and cupping Dick’s cheek comfortingly.

Dick immediately put his hand over it, pressing closer into the touch.

“Jay…”

“Listen,” Jason demanded. He didn’t have much time left. “You have to tell me. Trust me to protect you. Especially now.”

“What?” Nightwing croaked out.

“Remember, you have to go first.”

“What are you-” Dick started to ask, but a gasp from Jason put him back on track of the more immediate concerns. “Jaybird!”

“Gonna...” Jason fumbled for the distress beacon on Nightwing’s suit, “hurt… you… sorry.”

“Little Wing, please. Don’t, please. Please.”

“Love you,” Jason breathed.

“I love you too, Jay. Please,” Dick begged as Red Hood’s body went limp. “Don’t. Jay! Jason!”

Jason Todd died for the second time and Dick Grayson screamed.

 

* * *

 

“Red Hood, are you busy?” Oracle’s voice came through the com-link.

“Not particularly,” Jason shrugged, flicking away the cigarette and picking up his helmet. Oracle calling never meant any good news. “Why?”

“Nightwing’s distress beacon was activated. Batman is on his way, but you’re a lot closer.”

“Where?” Red Hood snapped, jumping from the roof into the alley he left his bike in.

Soon, he found himself on another rooftop with Nightwing’s prone body laying in a puddle of blood.

Heart in his throat, Jason stumbled to his older brother. Dick’s costume was drenched in blood, only a few streaks of blue left on otherwise darkened with blood stripes. Right side of his face was also red. Jason pressed his shaking fingers against Dick’s neck and sighed in relief as he found strong, if a little fast pulse. Then he checked Dick’s body over for injures and found none. Where all of this blood came from then?

“Nightwing,” Jason called, slapping lightly Dick’s clean cheek. “’Wing, can you hear me? Dick?”

No response.

Red Hood swore and checked his brother for injuries more thoroughly. Still, he came up with nothing.

“I got him,” he reported into the comm-link. “There’s a lot of blood, but it’s not his. He doesn’t have any apparent injuries. He just won’t wake up.”

“ETA three minutes,” Batman informed.

“Okay,” Red Hood sighed and looked around for some clues. Nothing. The roof was empty, as if Nightwing just collapsed suddenly in a puddle of blood. What happened here?

 

* * *

 

“Any change?” Jason walked back into the ‘Cave with a mug of coffee in hand an hour later.

He helped get Nightwing back to the manor and didn’t feel like leaving until he knew Dick was going to be fine. Thankfully Bruce didn’t say anything about it, just focused on running various tests to determine Dick’s continuous unconscious state.

“No,” Bruce sighed. “Scan only shows elevated brain activity. Nothing else. No drugs, no nothing.”

“Psychic attack?” Hood guessed.

“Possible,” Batman grunted. “Would explain the fingertips on his face.”

Jason made an agreeing noise.

“We should have them and the blood analysis done soon,” Bruce added and the Batcomputer beeped.

They both walked to it and Bruce pulled up the results. Jason choked on his coffee.

“Me?” he squeaked.

Both, the prints and blood matched to one Jason Todd.

Batman narrowed his eyes at him.

“Hey,” Jason defended. “I didn’t do anything! I wasn’t even there until Oracle contacted me!”

“We’ll see,” Batman growled ominously.

 

* * *

 

“It wasn’t an attack,” J'onn J'onzz stated after he tried to connect with the mind of the unconscious man.

Batman called him and after hearing about the situation, Martian offered his services with telepathy.

“It seems like some traumatic event pushed him into shock and he shut down,” he explained.

“That had to be hell of a trauma,” Jason whistled. With their lives they got used to seeing many things, that would sent ordinary person running off screaming.

“Possibly,” J’onn agreed. “I can’t tell more. He’s pretty tightly shut off. As if he’s keeping me away. The only thing clear is that he thinks of you, Jason.”

“Why me?” Hood groaned. As if the Bats needed anymore proof that he was to blame for their precious bird to be comatose.

“That, I can’t determine,” the Martian shrugged. “But maybe you can get him to wake up.”

“You want me to get into Big Bird’s brain?” Jason asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Martian confirmed over Bruce’s mute protests.

Red Hood cursed, ran his hand through his hair, looked at Dick motionless body.

“Alright,” he sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

 

* * *

 

The city was literally leveled to the ground. Mass of bodies covered the rubble. Dust, smoke and blood clogged the air.

Jason was traipsing in this world for what seemed like hours now. The Martian was expelled as soon as he made an appearance, leaving Red Hood to find his older brother in this destroyed world. And Jason had a feeling it wasn’t just Gotham that looked like that, but a whole world. Total apocalypse. Nothing left alive.

He just hoped it wasn’t a representation of what was left of Dick’s brain.

Then Jason hear it. Quiet, hoarse crying.

Quickly, he made in it’s direction and stopped short at the sight, heart clenching.

It was a battlefield. Ground zero. Bodies of Justice League and other heroes were strewn around the area. Dick was kneeling on the ground, clutching Jason’s body, hunched over it and sobbing.

Red Hood approached cautiously, making enough noise to not startle his distraught brother. He shuddered. What happened here?

As if on cue a new scene appeared. It was transparent like a hologram, but clearly showed a few minutes before the destruction.

The heroes were fighting with an army of various creatures, too busy to pay attention to Martian and Nightwing accompanied by strange man. There was a brief scuttle between them, which the man won easily. He threw J’onn into some kind of machine and soon sparks started flying from it, even as Martian’s body fell off of it, smoking. This seemed to anger the man, but in the next second he grinned. Suddenly horror struck Nightwing tried to get away, but the man forced him into the machine as well.

Nightwing’s scream of agony and the man’s maniacal cackle halted the battle.

After a minute of smug, evil monologue came the explosion. Invisible force turned buildings into dust in a blink of an eye. All living beings grabbed their heads in pain and then fell, dead.

When the dust settled Red Hood, bloody and bruised, dug himself out of the rubble. Staggering, he walked to where Nightwing and the man lied. He checked on his brother, sighing sadly at finding him dead. The man chuckled. Hood furiously emptied a clip into his head for that, effectively killing him. He sat beside Nightwing and waited for death.

And then he spotted the Flash. Battered and broken, but still alive and making his way to him. They exchanged a long look and then Flash nodded. So they traveled through time into the past. But Flash was weak and he couldn’t make it anymore, so he shoved Red Hood into the timeline and disappeared into the Speed Force. Red Hood rolled along the roof from the force of the shove. He got to his feet to see a surprised Nightwing staring at him. They exchanged a few words before Red Hood collapsed, Nightwing catching him, trying to stop the bleeding and then just clutching at him when he realized how futile it was.

The images faded when Hood died.

“What the hell was that?” Jason asked no one in particular and jumped in surprise when he received a reply.

“The last minutes of his life.”

Jason turned. Dick was watching him now with reddened eyes, cheeks still wet with tears.

“Dick,” Red Hood breathed in relief. “What’s going on?”

“What are you doing here, Jason?” Dick asked instead of answering.

“I came for you. I found you unconscious on the roof and we can’t wake you up.”

“Oh,” Dick looked down with a frown.

“Dick,” Jason crouched next to his brother and ignoring his flinch laid a hand on his shoulder. “What’s happening?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Dick muttered, not meeting Jason’s eyes. He was tense under Jason’s hand and emanated fear.

Red Hood attempted to soothe him by rubbing his arm.

“C’mon,” Jason encouraged softly, leaning closer. “Just tell me.”

Dick batted his hand away and pushed him. Jason landed on his rear, stunned.

Duck shuffled back, curling into tight ball around the body still in his arms.

Jason blinked, the sudden urge to cuddle his brother to death fading. He narrowed his eyes.

“What was that?” he demanded.

Dick shrunk back even more.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s not an answer,” Jason snapped.

“You should go.”

Jason sighed and started going through the facts to try to figure out what was going on.

“We thought you were attacked, but Manhunter eliminated that possibility. Somehow you managed to keep him away, but not me. And this… vision or whatever. And just now you made me… You have some kind of psychic power, don’t you?”

“Jay,” Dick choked out, waves of terror coming from him.

“Why are you so afraid?” Jason asked in confusion. “We know plenty of people with powers.”

“Jay,” Dick pleaded.

“Oh, come on,” Jason persisted. “Out with it!”

“I’m an empath,” Dick confessed, looking down.

“Of course you are,” Jason said, because it made sense. Dick always was the affectionate one, in touch with his feelings and everybody around him. Always knew when someone needed a hug, a pat on the shoulder or just a few words of encouragement. “Of course you are,” Jason repeated more firmly.

Though luck Dick had. From what Jason knew empaths needed a lot attention and love, while Dick was adopted into an emotionally stunted and constipated family. No wonder he was downright desperate and clingy when he finally managed to wrangle one of his little brothers into a hug.

Dick hung his head in shame. Well, that wouldn’t do. Dick couldn’t help what he was and he definitely shouldn’t be ashamed of that.

Jason made himself as comfortable as one could get in the place of massacre.

“How does this work?” he asked curiously.

“What?” Dick raised his head a fraction.

“Empathy,” Jason clarified. “How does it work? Can you control it? Turn it off?”

“No.”

Red Hood waited.

“It’s like one more sense, like hearing or touch. Always there, but fairly easy to tune out. The better I know a person the better I have a reading, though.”

“The thing you did,” Jason said carefully, “can you make someone do something?”

“Not really,” Dick shrugged. “I mean, I can project my feelings on someone, but I don’t have any control of how the person reacts.”

“Do you do that often?” Jason mused, sorting trough his memories for the situations it could be the case.

“No. It just mostly happens when I’m upset. Then things tend to go a little haywire.”

Jason didn’t like the sound of that.

“It hurts you?”

Dick swallowed, clearly reluctant to answer.

“Sometimes,” he admitted. “Strong emotions could be like a hug or a punch, depending on if it is good or bad. The stronger it gets, the stronger the blow and coupled with touch… Well, it can trigger a touch telepathy.” Dick gestured around them. “Like this.”

“So touching m-” no, Jason who died wasn’t him, “him generated enough of a kick for you to go into catatonic state and see his last minutes?”

“Jay,” Dick looked at him intensely. “You _died_.”

“Well, yeah,” Jason shrugged. “I died before.”

“It nearly killed me. Both times.”

Jason scoffed. From his point of view it didn’t seem like it. When he got back as Red Hood Dick was as cheery as ever with a new little brother at his side.

Dick didn’t take well to Jason’s disbelief.

“You have-” his breathing hitched. “You have no idea how it was. You’re my little brother and I fucking love you. Not to _feel_ you… I could barely function. I couldn’t be around Alfred or Bruce. Their pain over loosing you was just dragging me down further. I couldn’t _touch_ Bruce without seeing how he found your body after the explosion. It was all he thought about, how he failed to save you. And when I came into contact with your Robin costume you wore when you died?” Dick shuddered.

“Jesus,” Jason paled.

“Played over and over until Alfred took it away from me. They thought it was because it was finally sinking in that you were really dead. That was the first and only time when an object, not a person, triggered touch telepathy for me.”

“Dick...” Jason didn’t know what to say to that, so he reached for him, but Nightwing flinched away. “Why are you so afraid?”

“Why?” Dick let out a humorless laugh. “Bruce _hates_ people with powers. Especially psychic ones. And all of you are breaking in hives even at the slight mention of feelings. If you knew that I can feel what you’re feeling when I’m near, what do you think would happen?”

Jason went cold, because Dick didn’t really believe that they would… right?

“You think we would hate you?”

Dick shrugged.

“Dick,” Jason sighed. “I admit it could be uncomfortable for us at first and I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t hate you, okay? You have powers, so what? It doesn’t change that you always have been touchy-feely freak. If anything it just explains it.”

By now Dick was looking at him with a frown.

“What?” Jason demanded, ready to barrel through more of his brother’s idiocy.

“That’s not how this chat usually goes,” Dick stated, throwing Jason in for a loop.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re dead. I know you’re dead. So it had to be you.”

“I’m not dead,” Jason denied. “And please, explain what you mean.”

Dick sighed in annoyance.

“It happens when I’m close to a breakdown. My mind conjures you or Tim, or Damian, or someone to talk me through it.”

“Your subconscious gives you pep talks?” Jason asked incredulously, suspicious now that Dick might think he was one of his imaginary confidants.

“It’s not like I can talk with any of you for real.”

The Red Hood was struck speechless. That was so fucked up on so many levels. Not to mention how spectacularly they failed Dick.

“How about that vision?” Jason tried to steer them in the new direction. He couldn’t think about that screw up right now. He had to get Dick to woke up first. “He’s from the future or something, so I haven’t died yet.”

“Perhaps,” Dick allowed. “But you still died on that roof in my arms.”

“Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again then, hm?” Red Hood stood up. “Play it again.”

Jason watched the scene a few times, making sure he remembered as much details as he could. Nightwing soon joined him in investigation.

“Are you ready to join the land of the living?” Jason asked when they couldn’t find any more clues.

Dick looked to where he left Jason’s body, carefully arranged.

“Let him go in peace,” Red Hood said softly.

Dick immediately teared up. Jason learned, that in his head space Dick acted even more emotionally than in real life.

“I’m so sorry, Jay,” Dick sobbed out. “I’m sorry.”

The apocalyptic view faded into Batcave and Jason blinked rapidly.

“Jason,” Bruce came into his line of sight looking actually concerned, “What happened? J’onn was threw out, but you-”

“I’m fine.”

Both looked at Nightwing as he groaned quietly and brought his palms to cover his face. Any traces of blood on him and his suit were gone. Interesting.

Red Hood pushed Bruce aside and reached for Dick just as he bolted upright.

“Jason!” Nightwing shouted as he felt strong arms grabbing him. He fought. He had to get to his little brother.

“I’m fine. I’m okay,” Jason soothed as Dick struggled against him, willing him to _feel_. “I’m here. I’m alive. I’m fine. I’m right here with you.”

“Jay,” Jason’s words finally got through to Dick and he clutched at him, sobbing into his chest.

Jason let him. Those weren’t the anguished cries like before, only the relief, so Red Hood didn’t see anything wrong in indulging his brother a little and let him unwind.

Bruce did, however.

“Nightwing, tell us what happened,” Batman demanded.

Jason felt a surge of anger. Couldn’t the man see they were having a moment here?

Dick went boneless against him taking the comfort Red Hood willingly wanted to provide, which calmed Jason somewhat in return.

“There was The Red Hood from the future,” Dick sniffed. “He died.”

“Did he hurt you?” Bruce growled.

“What?!” Nightwing exclaimed, the surge of anger from Jason fueling his own. “No!”

“Are you sure about that?” Batman pressed, getting angry himself. “You were unconscious for a long time for no apparent reason.”

“This had nothing to do with Jason,” Dick hissed.

“Hey,” Jason said softly, getting his anger under control. He was good at that, had a lot of practice. But Dick was upset and vulnerable and projected anger all over the place, getting everyone angered even more. It was fascinating, but too dangerous right now. “Why won’t we all take a moment to calm down and then discuss the issue like a responsible adults that we are?”

Of course they didn’t. Bruce was a master in getting Dick and Jason riled up. In the end Jason just stormed out, dragging spitting mad Dick behind him. Yeah, no visits from any of the Bats for Dick for the foreseeable future while he calmed down and got used to the idea that Jason knew and didn’t think any less of him. Then maybe, slowly, Jason will start to allow Tim and Damian to see him and prove Dick they loved him, empathy or not.

Other Jason or not, he made a promise after all and he intended to keep it.


End file.
